Enriching the Academic Experience

Saint Thomas’ Episcopal School offers a host of extracurricular academic activities designed to promote critical thinking and reasoning skills, as well as teamwork.

Junior Classical League

Junior Classical League (JCL) is open to Latin students in grades six through twelve. JCL encourages an interest in, and appreciation of, the language, literature, and culture of ancient Greece and Rome. Members participate in competitions locally and at the state and national levels.

National Latin Honor Society

The National Latin Honor Society is an organization within the overall umbrella of JCL. This group is open to students whose average Latin grade for the year is 90 or greater. Members are inducted into the group each spring.

Mock Trial

Mock Trial is a student activity in which six to 10 high school students form a team. Half of the team members play the roles of attorneys and the other half play the witnesses in an imaginary court case. Cases alternate between criminal and civil cases.

Competition begins locally at the regional tournament, which is typically held at the Court of Appeals. The regional winner advances to the state competition, and the state champion advances to the national championship.

Mock trial participants not only learn about the law and our judicial system, but also develop life skills such as teamwork, case analysis, public speaking, quick thinking, and professionalism.

Science Bowl

Participation in the Science Bowl is open to upper school students interested in science; the team practices each week in preparation for the annual competition against two dozen other school teams.

Following a round robin competition in which all teams compete against three separate schools, the teams are seeded for the double-elimination portion of the meet. Each round consists of two 8-minute halves with questions from the subjects of astronomy, biology, chemistry, earth science, general science, math, and physics.

TAPPS Academic Team

Saint Thomas’ Episcopal School is a member of Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS). In addition to athletics, TAPPS sponsors academic and arts competitions; our upper school students compete in and excel at both the academic and arts categories.

Members of the TAPPS academic team participate in up to two competitions annually. The top three in an event advance to the state competition. Categories include: Persuasive Speaking, Solo Acting, Duet Acting,
Original Oratory
Prose, Interpretation
Poetry,
Literary Criticism,
Ready Writing,
Spelling,
Current Events and Issues,
Social Studies, Spanish, Science, Mathematics, Advanced Math, Calculator, and
Number Sense.